Philip Nicosia

Last night on Celebrity Big Brother Dirk was telling Shilpa and Jermaine about the books he had wrote. In true Channel 4 style as soon as he metioned the titles they blocked the sound out. Maybe an issue due to adverstising restrictions who knows?

Any, a quick search on Amazon.co.uk this morning brings back only 1 result for

‘Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy’

‘The extraordinary story of a member of the A-team. Warning: This book may change the way you look at doctors and health forever. This book will challenge your preconceived ideas about looking at illness, taking responsibility and about actors - particularly Dirk Benedict, star of several hit television series and author of this work. Initially, “Confessions Of A Kamikaze Cowboy” tells the fascinating story of Dirk Benedict’s journey from the big sky country of Montana to the hustle and hype of Hollywood. It also vividly describes his personal odyssey of self-exploration, discovery and growth - from struggling actor to celebrity, from meat eater to vegetarian, from cancer victim to cancer victor. “Confessions Of A Kamikaze Cowboy” is brilliantly written - insightful, witty, humorous and always challenging - a tour de force. You will come face to face with many of the newly discovered truths in Dirk’s life. While you may not agree with everything “Confessions Of A Kamikaze Cowboy” has to say, it will make you reconsider a great many truths in your own life. Dirk Benedict has starred on Broadway, in films and in several hit television series, including The A Team and Battlestar Galactica. When he’s not making a movie or writing screenplays, he pilots his own airplane, composes music, plays the piano and trombone, goes fishing or just relaxes with his two sons. Dirk and his sons live in Montana.’

If you want to get his other book you need to go to Amazon.com

‘And Then We Went Fishing’

‘Life and death are the themes of this intriguing book by Benedict, author of Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy (Avery, 1991). Benedict’s father was shot by his brother years earlier. Now, Benedict’s wife is giving birth at home. Complications arise with the birth, resulting in Benedict’s reliving his father’s life and death in between his wife’s contractions. As things become more complicated, he takes his wife on a desperate race to the hospital for the final episode in the ordeal, which results in a strapping son named after his father. The intertwining of what happened in the past with the events of the present makes for an excellent story. The humor, drama, and frustration that Benedict experiences results in a moving book for all levels of readers. For most public libraries.
- H. Robert Malinowsky, Univ. of Illinois, Chicago
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.’

I find it amazing how I take so many things for granted that only a few years I didn’t even have at all.

I can’t imagine a life without broadband and internet access but you only realize just how much you become dependant on it when it breaks down.

For me that is always going to be an issue as without internet access I can’t work but it doesn’t stop there. You loose the ability to communicate with people by email, no live streaming of Big Brother available, no online shopping or research facilities and the list goes on and on and on.

Our broadband connection stopped working at about 8.30pm on Tuesday. It wasn’t the end of the world as I could logon with T-Mobile through my Sony UX180P.

The next day though was a different matter all together and panic started to set in. I contacted Sky to tell them I couldn’t get on the internet to be told there was a problem with my exchange and the status was ongoing works with no timeframe as to when they would be complete. The best they could offer me was to say “Try it again tomorrow and see if it works”.

So I went to logon through T-Mobile again only to find that I couldn’t. I think I had used all the credit on the pay as you go card.

Now I was totally stuck. I’ve become so dependant on broadband that I don’t even have a modem installed in any of my computers in the house that I can use for dial up. (Might have to get one of those)

I left my computer on and had the router connect page loaded which would try and connect every 30 seconds to the internet and went and did something else.

Every half an hour or so my girlfriend would ask “Is the internet working yet?” to which I replied “No”. The look of horror on her face was funny.

At about 10 pm I heard a noise coming from my office which was Wi-fi bunny telling me it was 10 O’clock. Now for that to have happened we had to be connected. Our ordeal was over!

Luckily it was only a little over 24 hours of down time but it does make you appreciate what you have a hell of a lot more.

Want to keep up to date with Celebrity Big Brother but missed it on TV?

Channel 4 has released a Celebrity Big Brother Podcast which is updated daily about 2 hours after the airing of the show on Channel 4.

I wanted to get a hard disk drive and hub for my Mac Mini that would stack underneath it and noticed on the Apple Store a LaCie mini Hard Drive & Hub 250GB. I wanted to check the positioning of the USB ports and it wasn’t that clear on the Apple site so a quick search on Google took me to LaCie’s website and I was able to find out what I needed.

What surprised me was the price difference.

Apple Store £159.00
LaCie Shop £109.00

A full £50 cheaper. Needless to say I bought it direct from LaCie.

What is it about this country that makes someone a celebrity for doing nothing other than being in the papers. Celebrity Big Brother’s decision to bring back Jade and her family to the house and then have the other celebrities wait on them is farcical.

Donny did the right thing and escaped over the wall stating, I’m not f**king waiting on a mooron and her family.

Jade enters the Big Brother House and then complains to Big Brother that the 3 remaining celebrities were cold. How can she honestly put herself into the league of Jermaine Jackson from the legendary Jackson 5, Ken Russell the controversial film director and Shilpa Shetty, a famous Bollywood actress.

Jade tells Shilpa she is the 25th Most influential women in the world and then explains she doesn’t know what inluential means. Where did she get that from? Worse still, she actually believes it. This is from the girl that thought that East Anglia was abroad!

Jade’s Mum asks Shilpa (maybe looking down on her) Do you live in a shack or a house? How rude!

As if Jade, her Mum and boyfriend weren’t scrapping the barrel enough there is talk of Jades Grandparents going in today!

Ken has apparently asked to leave now and I wouldn’t be surprised if more of the others ask to go until we are left with Jade and her extended family.

Maybe Channel 4 will have to rename the show to Non-Celebrity Big Brother